DNA test results from two of the major DNA testing companies estimate that my paternal line has at least one 18th century ancestor from West Africa. This is a trace amount of DNA that has remained consistent, so far, through all of the updates. When examined together with results from other family members, this DNA leads back to my father’s maternal grandmother, Martha Tallulah “Lula” Swindler McGuinn Brennan Bradshaw (1879-1952) and her parents, James Monroe Swindler (1853-1946) and John Benjamin “Momma Benny” Elizabeth Campbell (1864-1931).

Because this is a small amount of DNA and because it is estimated to have entered our family in the 18th century, this trace amount may have originated with ancestors of either Lula’s mother or her father. Or it may have originated through West African ancestors on both sides of Lula’s family.

DNA testing has shown a possible connection to the family of Lula Mae Burns (1931-2020). Lula Mae was an African-American woman from Arkansas, who was descended from enslaved persons of color and white slave holders. Unfortunately, her son, David Anthony Taylor, and I have not been able to establish a common family name or geographic area where the lives of our ancestors would have overlapped.

Identifying common ancestors of any ethnicity from approximately two to three hundred years ago is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Although Lula Mae’s African ancestors were enslaved, it may be that our possible common ancestor of West African ancestry (identified as black or mulatto in legal and private records) was a free person of color. However, our current expectation is that we are searching for an enslaved person.

Researching ancestors who were enslaved is challenging because, in most cases, enslaved people were not recorded by name in the slave schedules of the US censuses from 1790 to 1860. Consequently, many descendants of enslaved people hit a brick wall when they attempt to find information on their ancestors before the 1870 federal census.

Because enslaved persons were legally considered property, however, they were named in bills of sale and the wills and probate records of their slaveholders. For this reason, bills of sale and slaveholder wills and probate records are some of the most important sources of information for descendants seeking to locate and identify enslaved ancestors.